May 21, 2007

Gobal federalism, starting with 15 cities (and a former US president)

I've been discussing in several posts in recent months the possible role of big cities in tackling global problems such as climate change (Global federalism, Sept 06; Given enough local minds, October 06; The new assertiveness of cities, December 06). The basic idea: If cities start acting as global actors towards sustainability, new
mobility solutions and traffic strategies, clean energy, water
resources management, etc, when you add it all up there could be significant progress even without national policies and international treaties.

He said that the other day in New York presenting an initiative, prompted by the Clinton Foundation, that involves 15 of the world's biggest cities (NY, Chicago, Houston, Toronto, Mexico City, London, Berlin, Delhi, Karachi, Tokyo, Seoul, Sao Paulo, Bangkok, Johannesburg and Melbourne), five banks (Citibank, UBS, DeutscheBank, ABN Amro and JP Morgan) and companies and other groups, to push the modernization of aging buildings. Under the plan, explains the Herald Tribune:

participating banks would provide up to $1 billion each in loans that
cities or private landlords would use to upgrade energy-hungry heating,
cooling and lighting systems in older buildings. The loans and interest would be paid back with savings accrued through reduced energy costs.

It's just a starting point, of course, but in densely populated cities, particularly old ones, buildings are the dominant source of greenhouse gases, and therefore the potential for energy-saving retrofits is significant. In fast-growing newer cities, of course, the focus should be on increasing the efficiency of new buildings. With this step, mayors are demonstrating that they are ahead of most national governments in addressing the urgency of climate change.

It may be that the mayors, aware their powers end at the city
limits, are more willing than holders of higher offices to take to
innovation. When Mayor Clover Moore of Sydney asks residents to turn
off lights for an hour, the city goes dark. Mayor Richard M. Daley of
Chicago is distributing rooftop rain barrels, and already pipes 55
million gallons of rainwater into Lake Michigan every year. Toronto
discounts electricity for citizens who conserve.

Ken Livingstone,
the mayor of London and organizer of the group, bucked public opinion
when he imposed a hefty fee (now about $16) to drive on London’s
busiest streets. The result was increased productivity for businesses,
enhanced public transportation — paid for with fee revenues — and
streets that flow so freely, buses sometimes pull over lest they run
too far ahead of schedule.

Comments

"Think Global, Act Local" is the only option left to us of the Human Kind to save the Planet. It means one simple thing : we must go back to the 50's for the way of working together (e.g. produce & sell local), and project ourselves into the 21st Century for the way of thinking together (e.g. help developing countries to go directly to sustainable development). In other words, we must work as our grand-parents, and think for our children's children.

I guess we can easily relate to cities both as obvious causes of the climate change problem, with their massive energy use per capita, but also as the creative and entrepreneurial centres that can produce solutions for that problem.

It is always easier to galvanise people to action when they can identify clearly with a simple set of concepts and a clearly-defined associated community. It seems that the City is becoming a key focal point in this regard for climate change action.